Dutch footballer Quincy Promes facing 9 years in prison in cocaine smuggling case

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) recommended that professional football player Quincy Promes be convicted on allegations that he was involved in the large-scale smuggling of cocaine through the Antwerp port. The OM said on Wednesday the Amsterdam District Court should order Promes to serve nine years in prison. His attorney said the prosecution did not have enough evidence to convict Promes. The court will issue a ruling on February 14.

The 32-year-old Promes was not present at his trial. The former Ajax and Dutch international player currently plays for Spartak Moscow. The OM tried in vain to get him to the Netherlands. Due to his absence, Promes has not testified as to “how such a successful footballer allowed himself to be drawn so deeply into crime,” the prosecutor said in the Amsterdam courtroom on Wednesday.

Promes had contacts with major drug traffickers, including Piet W., the OM alleged. W. is a 55-year-old Almere man suspected in two assassinations, and who was accused of running a major cocaine trafficking operation. In the Promes case, the OM demanded an eight year prison sentence for co-defendant Marylio V., a 32-year-old man from Purmerend. He is a related to Promes, though not an immediate family member, and he has been in custody since April.

Both Promes and V. played a “crucial, directing and coordinating role” in the smuggling of drugs, the Public Prosecution Service said. Promes is also said to have made a major financial investment in drug trafficking. He was therefore “one step higher” than V. The duo operated “under the radar” and worked “calculatingly,” and they hired others to do the dirty work, such as removing the cocaine from the port, according to the Public Prosecution Service.

The OM described a shipment that took place at the end of January 2020. A container ship arrived via the Western Scheldt and moored in the port of Antwerp. The smugglers were able to take a shipment of 650 kilograms of cocaine off the ship, and transport it to a warehouse near the port. Customs officials intercepted another shipment, weighing more than 712 kilograms, from the same ship. Both batches of cocaine were hidden in a shipment of bags of sea salt from Brazil.

The evidence against the two suspects mainly consists of a large number of intercepted encrypted messages. The investigation into Promes started after investigators received tips from individuals in the criminal underworld. The OM said it was clear from the intercepted chats that both Promes and V. were intensively involved in smuggling. The prosecutor quoted reports in which Promes used the nickname "Fantasma" in connection with the smuggling case. Fantasma was said to be cheering about the successful transport of 650 kilograms of cocaine. “Excellent work,” he noted in a group chat to his suspected accomplices. “I am proud of you.”

Promes denied the accusations through his attorneys. They claimed that Promes did not participate in those communications at all. "Promes is not Fantasma," the defense team said.

Even if the court concludes Promes was Fantasma, there is no way to conclude from the messages that the defendant played a criminally punishable role in the case. In that case, an acquittal is the only just outcome, particularly as there is no other evidence, they argued. Further, the police were never able to interview Promes in the investigation, because he remained in Russia, where he plays for Spartak Moscow.

"Promes has not made a statement because he has made the choice to let his legal employment obligations prevail," the lawyers said of their client's absence. They claim attempts have been made to reach agreements with the Public Prosecution Service so that Promes could have his say in the case. These have been without results.

Last June, the court also sentenced the footballer to 1.5 years in prison for allegedly stabbing a cousin in the knee during a family party in Abcoude. He has appealed against that verdict. He also did not appear in court during that trial.

“He seems to think he is untouchable in Russia or abroad,” the prosecutor said.

The lawyer for Marylio V. also argued for acquittal, because he did not play a significant role. He pointed out that V. said he only helped find two people to recover the cocaine at the port "so that they could earn something."